The Study of Genetic Diversity, Heritability and Genetic Advance of Morphological Traits, Yield and Yield Components in Different Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietnum) as the third most important grain legume in the world is not only an important source of feed but it also improve soil fertility by adding nitrogen. This work was aimed to study the variability of morphological trait, to estimate PCV, GCV, heritability, and expected genetic advance of quantitative traits of Chickpea. The genotypes were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. PCA analysis showed first four factors Justify almost near to 80 percent variance among studied characters. Cluster analysis with Ward method classified all genotypes in three groups and the highest genetic distance was observed between cluster 2 and cluster 3. It is shown that the number of seed per pod trait has the highest PCV and GCV. The highest heritability was found for number of fertile pod (0.86), seed yield (0.84) and 100-seed weight (0.84) whereas high heritability coupled with high genetic advance was found for biological yield. So biological yield can be the most important criteria for selection parental lines in breeding programs. Also in regard to the highest genetic distance between cluster 2 and cluster 3, genotypes of two clusters could be used for intercrossing to develop improved cultivars.